Chris Leben is widely known as an artist of violence but it usually takes a while to warm him up to paint the canvas red. That certainly wasn't the case last night (July 2) at UFC 132.
That's because just as soon as "The Crippler" took one on the chin from Wanderlei Silva, he went into attack mode and started throwing his trademark bombs.
Of course a few of them would land.
It was just a shock they landed so quickly and with such devastating power, as evidenced by the booming reaction from the crowd and the Leben's own words at the post-fight press conference.
"Wanderlei Silva's my favorite fighter. He always has been. To tell you the truth, I never visualized the fight going the way it went. I only visualized a three-round war. And I've never been as scared going into the ring as to fight Wanderlei Silva. The man is a legend, what he's done for this sport is absolutely amazing. Right now, I just gotta evaluate what happened. I'm still kind of blown away. Wanderlei Silva, he can do whatever he wants. He's still, he's solid. I hit him pretty damn hard, I don't think anybody would have stayed up. It is what it is."A scared Leben is a deadly weapon, apparently.
The win couldn't have come under better circumstances for the middling middleweight, as well. The southpaw stylist was knocked out himself in the first round against Brian Stann earlier this year at the promotion's annual New Year's show.
This after the resurgent Oregon native had pieced a three-fight win streak for the first time since 2006.
Now he's back in the win column with another big knockout under his belt. The conundrum with Leben, however, is that it's hard to picture him contending for the title ... at any point.
by Geno Mrosko
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